Simultaneous nationwide update of database information on mobile communications devices

ABSTRACT

A system and method for supporting updates of database contact information to mobile communications devices includes a system having a data entry computer for compiling database contact information for a group of mobile communications devices, a service provider computer server in signal communication with the data entry computer for uploading the database contact information into the service provider computer server and for downloading the database contact information substantially simultaneously to the group of mobile communications devices, and a mobile communications device in signal communication with the service provider computer server for receiving the database contact information and for updating its own global logical database; wherein the method for supporting updates of database contact information to mobile communications devices includes the steps of compiling database contact information for a group of mobile communications devices, uploading the database contact information to a service provider computer server, and downloading the database contact information to the group of mobile communications devices.

BACKGROUND

The present disclosure relates to mobile communications and, inparticular, to a method and apparatus for providing updates of databaseinformation to mobile communications devices. It is typical for mobilecommunications devices, such as, for example, cellular telephones, tomaintain a database of information on the device itself. This databasetypically includes contact names and associated telephone numbers, asentered by the user.

Unfortunately, it is difficult to enter database information into atypical cellular telephone because the keypad is not well suited fortext entry. In addition, it is difficult for businesses or families withseveral telephones to keep multiple databases synchronized for alltelephones.

Some approaches may allow a user to keep a database on a personalcomputer (“PC”), for example, and then to download the database to atelephone having a universal serial bus (“USB”) and/or a parallel portconnection. Although this may simplify data entry, it does not solve theproblem of keeping multiple telephone databases synchronized since thedatabase still has to be downloaded manually and individually to eachtelephone. In addition, this is not a convenient solution for companieswith user telephones located remotely, such as throughout the nation,for example.

SUMMARY

These and other drawbacks and disadvantages of the prior art areaddressed by a system and method for supporting updates of databaseinformation to mobile communications devices.

The system includes a data entry computer for compiling database contactinformation for a group of mobile communications devices, a serviceprovider computer server in signal communication with the data entrycomputer for uploading the database contact information into the serviceprovider computer server and for downloading the database contactinformation substantially simultaneously to the group of mobilecommunications devices, and a mobile communications device in signalcommunication with the service provider computer server for receivingthe database contact information and for updating its own global logicaldatabase.

The corresponding method includes the steps of compiling databasecontact information for a group of mobile communications devices,uploading the database contact information to a service providercomputer server, and downloading the database contact information to thegroup of mobile communications devices.

These and other aspects, features and advantages of the presentdisclosure will become apparent from the following description ofexemplary embodiments, which is to be read in connection with theaccompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present disclosure teaches a method and apparatus for providingupdates of database information to mobile communications devices inaccordance with the following exemplary figures, in which:

FIG. 1 shows a block diagram for a mobile communications systemaccording to an illustrative embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 shows a block diagram for a mobile communications device usablein accordance with the system of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 shows a block diagram for a service provider computer serverusable in accordance with the system of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The present disclosure relates to the update of database information formobile communications devices. In particular, embodiments of the presentdisclosure store the database remotely, such as on a server maintainedby a service provider. An important advantage is that multiple mobiletelephones and/or communications devices can have their databasesupdated substantially simultaneously regardless of their physicallocation.

As shown in FIG. 1, a mobile communications system 100 includes mobiledevices 110, such as, for example, mobile cellular telephones. Themobile devices 110 are each connected in signal communication to a basestation 112 via the customary wireless links. Each base station 112, inturn, is connected in signal communication with a cellular network 114.A computer server 116, such as, for example, a server residing with acellular service provider, is connected in signal communication with thecellular network 114. The computer server 116 is further connected insignal communication with an internet 118 in this exemplary embodiment.A data entry device or computer 120 is connected in signal communicationwith the computer server 116 via the internet 118. Thus, acommunications path is formed between each mobile device 110 and thecomputer server 116, and a communications path is also formed betweenthe data entry computer 120 and the computer server 116.

Turning to FIG. 2, a mobile communications device is generally indicatedby the reference numeral 200. The mobile communications device 200 maybe embodied, for example, in a mobile cellular telephone according toembodiments the present disclosure. The mobile device 200 includes atleast one processor or central processing unit (“CPU”) 202 in signalcommunication with a system bus 204. A read only memory (“ROM”) 206, arandom access memory (“RAM”) 208, a display adapter 210, an input/output(“I/O”) adapter 212, and a user interface adapter 214 are also in signalcommunication with the system bus 204.

A display unit 216 is in signal communication with the system bus 204via the display adapter 210, and a keypad 222 is in signal communicationwith the system bus 204 via the user interface adapter 214. The system200 also includes a wireless communications device 228 in signalcommunication with the system bus 204 via the I/O adapter 212, or viaother suitable means as understood by those skilled in the art.

As will be recognized by those of ordinary skill in the pertinent artbased on the teachings herein, alternate embodiments are possible, suchas, for example, embodying some or all of the data or program code inregisters located on the processor 202.

Turning now to FIG. 3, a service provider computer server is indicatedgenerally by the reference numeral 300. The server 300 includes at leastone processor or CPU 302 in signal communication with a system bus 304.A ROM 306, a RAM 308, a display adapter 310, an I/O adapter 312, and auser interface adapter 314 are also in signal communication with thesystem bus 304.

A display unit 316 is in signal communication with the system bus 304via the display adapter 310. A data storage unit 318, such as, forexample, a magnetic or optical disk storage unit or database, is insignal communication with the system bus 104 via the I/O adapter 312. Amouse 320, a keyboard 322, and an eye tracking device 324 are also insignal communication with the system bus 304 via the user interfaceadapter 314.

The system 300 also includes a communications adapter 328 in signalcommunication with the system bus 304, or via other suitable means asunderstood by those skilled in the art, so that data may be input to thesystem 300 from a network.

As will be recognized by those of ordinary skill in the pertinent artbased on the teachings herein, alternate embodiments are possible, suchas, for example, embodying some or all of the computer program code inregisters located on the processor chip 302. Given the teachings of thedisclosure provided herein, those of ordinary skill in the pertinent artwill contemplate various alternate configurations and implementations ofelements of the system 300 while practicing within the scope and spiritof the present disclosure.

It is to be appreciated that the database 318 may include a plurality ofvarious information sources. Moreover, the internet 118 of FIG. 1 mayinclude sources of information. In alternate embodiments of the presentdisclosure, the internet 118 may be an alternate or proprietary networkor communications link.

In operation, a method for maintaining a database 318 simultaneouslydownloadable from a service provider computer server 116, 300 to each ofa group of mobile devices 110, 200 is implemented. It is presumed thatthe mobile devices or cellular telephones 110, 200 have the capabilityto receive non-voice data such as Caller I.D. formatted data.

Database information such as a contact name and corresponding telephonenumber are stored on the service provider computer server 116, 300 aspart of a database 318. This data can be sent to the server 116, 300 bya user via the internet 118, such as, for example via a websiteinterface, as part of a database update. This will ease the data entryprocess since a computer 120 having an alphanumeric keyboard, forexample, can be used instead of a cellular telephone keypad 222. Inaddition, numbers entered into a telephone 110, 200 can be stored onlyon that telephone, if desired, or they can be uploaded to the database318 via the cellular network 114 as well.

The database information can be sent to all selected telephones 110, 200to update the information to the telephones. This can occur regardlessof the location of the phones 110, 200 as long as they have cellularservice. The phones 110, 200 may have two logical databases. One is alocal logical database with numbers that are stored only on that phone.The other is a global and/or group logical database that stores numbersreceived through the download from the service provider computer server116, 300. Contact numbers entered directly into the global logicaldatabase from the phone 110, 200 are later sent to the serviceprovider's server 116, 300 in order to update the master database 318.

Database information 318 is sent to the phones 110, 200 using theexisting Caller ID format, as known to those of ordinary skill in thepertinent art, with modified message types. This format is substantiallystandardized and most cellular telephones 110, 200 are already capableof processing information in the format. Although this is not the onlyway to implement the teachings of the present disclosure, it is apreferred embodiment that makes use of an existing standard.

The modifications needed for this embodiment are shown in Tables 1 and2. An additional message type called Mobile Database Update has beenadded to Table 1 in order to inform the mobile telephone 110, 200 thatthe following information, comprising contact name, contact telephonenumber and number type, should be loaded into the telephone's localmemory database 208 and/or 206 From Table 2, the embodiment makes use ofthe Calling Number and Calling Name parameters to send the contact'sname and number to the database. In addition, a Database Number Typeparameter has been added. The Database Number Type can be used, forexample, to indicate whether the number is a home, business, mobile orother number.

TABLE 1 Message Type Message Type Value Format Mobile Database Update 02hex SDMF Calling Number Delivery 04 hex SDMF Visual Message WaitingIndicator 06 hex SDMF Call Setup 80 hex MDMF Service Test 81 hex MDMFVisual Message Waiting Indicator 82 hex MDMF Manufacturer-SpecificTesting 4C hex to 6C hex NONE (reserved) Modified version of Table14-Message Type Values in the TIA/EIA-777 specification. The line initalics represents the additional message type used for this preferredembodiment. The value of 02 hexadecimal was chosen arbitrarily from thefree values, and alternative values can be chosen if desired.

TABLE 2 Parameter Type Parameter Type Value Date & Time 01 hex CallingNumber 02 hex Dialable Directory Number 03 hex Reason for Absence ofDirectory Number 04 hex Reason for Redirection (Reserved) 05 hex CallQualifier 06 hex Calling Name 07 hex Reason for Absence of Calling Name06 hex Database Number Type 09 hex Visual Message Waiting Indicator 0Bhex Modified version of Table 15-Parameter Type Values in theTIA/EIA-777 specification. The line in italics is an additional valueused for this preferred embodiment. The value of 09 hexadecimal waschosen arbitrarily from the free values, and alternative values can bechosen if desired.

These and other features and advantages of the present disclosure may bereadily ascertained by one of ordinary skill in the pertinent art basedon the teachings herein. It is to be understood that the teachings ofthe present disclosure may be implemented in various forms of hardware,software, firmware, special purpose processors, or combinations thereof.

The teachings of the present disclosure may be implemented as acombination of hardware and software. Moreover, the software ispreferably implemented as an application program tangibly embodied on aprogram storage unit. The application program may be uploaded to, andexecuted by, a machine comprising any suitable architecture. Preferably,the machine is implemented on a computer platform having hardware suchas one or more central processing units (“CPU”), a random access memory(“RAM”), and input/output (“I/O”) interfaces. The computer platform mayalso include an operating system and microinstruction code. The variousprocesses and functions described herein may be either part of themicroinstruction code or part of the application program, or anycombination thereof, which may be executed by a CPU. In addition,various other peripheral units may be connected to the computer platformsuch as an additional data storage unit and an output unit.

It is to be further understood that, because some of the constituentsystem components and steps depicted in the accompanying drawings may beimplemented in software, the actual connections between the systemcomponents or the process function blocks may differ depending upon themanner in which the present disclosure is programmed. Given theteachings herein, one of ordinary skill in the pertinent art will beable to contemplate these and similar implementations or configurationsof the present disclosure.

As will be recognized by those of ordinary skill in the pertinent artbased on the teachings herein, alternate embodiments are possible. Giventhe teachings of the disclosure provided herein, those of ordinary skillin the pertinent art will contemplate various alternate configurationsand implementations of the system while practicing within the scope andspirit of the present disclosure.

Although the illustrative embodiments have been described herein withreference to the accompanying drawings, it is to be understood that thepresent disclosure is not limited to those precise embodiments, and thatvarious changes and modifications may be effected therein by one ofordinary skill in the pertinent art without departing from the scope orspirit of the present disclosure. All such changes and modifications areintended to be included within the scope of the present disclosure asset forth in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for supporting updates of databasecontact information to containing at least one contact name with anassociated contact number on a mobile communications devices, the methodcomprising: compiling database contact information for a group of mobilecommunications devices, each mobile communications device including alocal database and a global database; uploading the database contactinformation to a master database of a service provider computer server;downloading the database contact information to and updating each globaldatabase of the group of mobile communications devices, wherein thedatabase contact information comprises a plurality of contact names andan associated telephone number for each contact name; entering databasecontact information directly into a mobile communications device, saidmobile communications device including a local database and a globaldatabase; and enabling a user to indicate whether the enteredinformation is to remain local or global, wherein local information isstored in the local database to be stored only on that mobilecommunications device and global information is stored in the globaldatabase, said global information being sent to the service providercomputer server to update the master database. downloading via awireless interface of the mobile communications device database contactinformation contained in a master database of a service providercomputer server to a global database of the mobile communications deviceto update the global database; providing a signal path that excludes thewireless interface to enable a user to enter database contactinformation into the mobile communications device; and providing aselectable option for entering the database contact information on themobile communications device, the selectable option controlling whetherthe user entered contact information is to remain local or global,wherein local contact information is stored in a local database of themobile communications device and global contact information is stored inthe global database, the global contact information contained in theglobal database being responsive to a command for uploading the globalcontact information to the service provider computer server to updatethe master database.
 2. A method as defined in claim 1 wherein saidcompiling is performed on a data entry computer having a fullalphanumeric keyboard.
 3. A method as defined in claim 1 wherein saidthe uploading is performed over an internet a wide area network.
 4. Amethod as defined in claim 1 wherein said the downloading is performedsubstantially simultaneously to each member of the a group of mobilecommunications devices.
 5. A method as defined in claim 1 wherein saiddownloading is performed via a wireless links interface to each memberof the a group of mobile communications devices.
 6. A method as definedin claim 1 5 wherein the group of mobile communications devices is asubset of the mobile communications devices serviced by the serviceprovider computer server.
 7. A method as defined in claim 1 5 whereinthe group of mobile communications devices is one of a plurality ofgroups serviced by the service provider computer server.
 8. A method asdefined in claim 1 wherein the database contact information furthercomprises a Database Number Type parameter.
 9. A method as defined inclaim 1, further comprising: locally storing the entered contactinformation in a local logical database if the information is to be keptprivate; globally storing the entered contact information in a globallogical database if the information is to be shared with a group;uploading information to be shared to the service provider computerserver; and updating the database contact information for the group toreflect the uploaded information to be shared.
 10. A method as definedin claim 9 wherein said entering is performed manually via a keypad. 11.A method as defined in claim 9 wherein said entering is performedautomatically in response to Caller ID information.
 12. A method asdefined in claim 9 wherein said globally storing requires an affirmativedecision by a user.
 13. A method as defined in claim 9 wherein saiduploading is performed via a wireless link interface.
 14. A method asdefined in claim 9 wherein said uploading is performed via a cellularnetwork.
 15. A method as defined in claim 1 wherein said downloadingcomprises downloading a Mobile Database Update message.
 16. A programstorage device readable by machine, tangibly embodying a program ofinstructions executable by the machine to perform method steps forsupporting updates of database contact information to mobilecommunications devices, the method steps comprising: compiling databasecontact information for a group of mobile communications devices, eachmobile communications device including a local database and a globaldatabase; uploading the database contact information to a masterdatabase of a service provider computer server; downloading via awireless interface of a mobile communications device the databasecontact information to and updating each global database of the group ofmobile communications devices, wherein the database contact informationcomprises a plurality of contact names and an associated telephonenumber for each contact name; entering database contact informationdirectly into a the mobile communications device, said the mobilecommunications device including a local database and a global database;and determining whether the entered information is to remain local orglobal, wherein local information is stored in the local database to bestored only on that mobile communications device and global informationis stored in the global database, said the global information being sentto the service provider computer server to update the master database.17. A program storage device as defined in claim 16, the method stepsfurther comprising: locally storing the entered contact information in alocal logical database if the information is to be kept private;globally storing the entered contact information in a global logicaldatabase if the information is to be shared with a group; uploadinginformation to be shared to the service provider computer server; andupdating the database contact information for the group to reflect theuploaded information to be shared.
 18. A system for supporting updatesof database contact information to mobile communications devices, thesystem comprising: compiling means for compiling database contactinformation for a group of mobile communications devices, each mobilecommunications device including a local database and a global database;uploading means for uploading the database contact information to amaster database of a service provider computer server; downloading andupdating means for downloading the database contact information to andupdating each global database of the group of mobile communicationsdevices via a wireless interface of a mobile communications device,wherein the database contact information comprises a plurality of atleast one contact names and name with an associated telephone number foreach contact name; entering means for entering database contactinformation directly into a the mobile communications device, said themobile communications device including a local database and a globaldatabase; and determining means for determining whether the enteredinformation is to remain local or global, wherein local information isstored in the local database to be stored only on that mobilecommunications device and global information is stored in the globaldatabase, said the global information being sent to the service providercomputer server to update the master database.
 19. A system as definedin claim 18, further comprising: locally storing means for locallystoring the entered contact information in a local logical database ifthe information is to be kept private; globally storing means forglobally storing the entered contact information in a global logicaldatabase if the information is to be shared with a group; uploadingmeans for uploading information to be shared to the service providercomputer server; and updating means for updating the database contactinformation for the group to reflect the uploaded information to beshared.
 20. A system for supporting updates of database contactinformation to mobile communications devices comprising: a data entrycomputer for compiling database contact information for a group ofmobile communications devices, each mobile communications deviceincluding a local database and a global database; a service providercomputer server in signal communication with the data entry computer foruploading the database contact information into a master database of theservice provider computer server and for downloading the databasecontact information substantially simultaneously to each global databaseof the group of mobile communications devices; and a mobilecommunications device in signal communication with the a serviceprovider computer server for receiving the database contact informationand for updating its own global logical database, wherein the mobiledevice further comprises: entering means for entering database contactinformation directly into said the mobile communications device;determining means for enabling a user to determine whether the enteredinformation is to remain local or global; a local database for locallystoring the entered contact information in a local logical database ifthe information is to be stored only on that mobile communicationsdevice; and a global database for globally storing the entered contactinformation in a global logical database if the information is to beshared with a group, wherein global information is sent to the serviceprovider computer server to update the master database.
 21. A system asdefined in claim 20, further comprising: an interneta wide area networkcoupled in signal communication between the data entry computer and theservice provider computer server; and a cellular network coupled insignal communication between the service provider computer server andthe mobile communications device.
 22. A system as defined in claim 21,further comprising: a base station coupled in signal communicationbetween the cellular network and the mobile communications device.
 23. Asystem as defined in claim 22, further comprising: a wireless linkinterface coupled in signal communication between the base station andthe mobile communications device.
 24. A system as defined in claim 20,further comprising: a plurality of mobile communications devices, eachin signal communication with the service provider computer server forreceiving the database contact information.
 25. A mobile communicationsdevice for supporting updates of database contact information containingat least one contact name with an associated contact number, comprising:a global database; a wireless interface for downloading database contactinformation contained in a master database of a service providercomputer server to the global database to update contact informationcontained in the global database; an input for enabling a user to enterdatabase contact information into the mobile communications device via asignal path that excludes the wireless interface; and a local databaseresponsive to a command for selecting whether the user entered contactinformation is to remain local or global, wherein local contactinformation is stored in the local database and global contactinformation is stored in the global database, the global database beingresponsive to a command for uploading the global contact informationcontained in the global database to the service provider computer serverto update the master database in a manner to exclude the local contactinformation of the local database, wherein the uploaded global contactinformation becomes available for downloading by a mobile communicationsdevice having similar downloading capability.